Mine



Feb. 24. 1925.

A. w. AsHBR oK ET AL MINE Filed Sept. 29, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 11,527,770 A. W. ASHBROOK ET AL Feb. 24, 1925.

MINE

Filed Sept. 29, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 24, 1925. 1,527,770

A. W. ASHBROOK ET AL um: Filed Sept. 29, 1925 4 s Sheets-Sheet s /6gwwntoz 5 AIAfAsZZ/"QQA? Patented Feb. 24, 1925.

barren ALLAN W. A'sHBRooKnNn CLARENCE N. v

COLUMBIA, ASSIGNORS To THE GOVERNMENT teams wAsHinG'roiv, nrsrnicr or onTHE UNITED snares, REPRE- HICKMAN, or

'SE'NTED BY THE SECRETARY on THE NAVY.

MINE.

Application filed September 1 '0 all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that we, ALI-AN iV. Asi-i- BROOK and CLARENCE N. HIOKMAN,citizens of the United States, and residents of Wash- 5 ington, Districtof Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mines,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements 1 in submarine mines and moreparticularly to that type known as an oscillating and self mooring mine.The mine is particularly adapted for use in maneuvers or where one shipis being pursued by another, inwhich case a number of these oscillatingmines are discharged and take a position just beneath the surface of thewater where they-cannot be seen by the pursued vessel. There are ofcourse various other tactical advantages,-for example, this mine mightbe planted at the entrance of a harbor at the time the tide'is runningin. The tidal current will carry the oscillating mine far into theharbor and the mine will moor itself. This mooring feature makes itunnecessary to sink the mine after a short interval as is the case withother oscillating mines and of drifting mines as set forth byinternational law; furthermore, the useful life of the mine is thusindefinitely prolonged.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a mine of theabove character which will be of simple, practical and inexpensiveconstruction and free from storage batteries, delicately moving parts orcompressed gases.

The second object is to provide a mine of the above character having nocomplicated pieces of mechanism which are likely to get out of order orstorage batteries that will die in the course of time or valves thatleak and become frozen thus rendering the mine inoperative.

A further object is to provide a mine of the last abovement-ionedcharacter which may be easily and quickly adjusted to operate at thedesired depth and at any period of oscillation from one to live minutesor any degree of amplitude of oscillation.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part hereinafter pointedout in connection with the accompanying sheets of draw 29, 1923. SerialNo. 665,666.

ings illustrating two of various possible embodiments of the presentinvention.

In these drawings, Figure l is a side ele vation partlyin' sectionshowing such parts of an experimental mine as are necessary to fullyunderstand the invention.

Figure 2 is a partial plan view of the parts shown in Figure 1.

Figures 3, 4, and 5 are detailed sectional views of parts of'th'eoperating mechanism.

Figure 6 is a partial sectional elevational view of a modified form ofmine.-

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, 10 indicates a mine case of anydesired char acter provided with antenna or contact members 11? whichare adapted to be engaged by a ship and actuate the firing mechanism.

WVithin the mine case is a cylindrical member 12 provided with a piston13 connected by means of a link 14 with a crank arm 15 shown moreclearly in Figure l, one end of which arm carries a reel 16 upon whichis wound a fine wire 17 supporting anactuating weight 18. The oppositeend of the crank arm 15 is provided with an" escapement 20 havingoppositely extending arms carrying lugs 21 and 22 which are adapted toalternately coact with trip lever 23 pivoted at 2 1 near its central:part, the opposite end of which coacts with a plunger or piston 25within a hydrostatic cylinder 26 having the usual spring piston anddiaphragm similar to the parts shown in Figures 3 and 4.

lVithin the cylinder 12 is a long spiral spring 27 coacting with thepiston 13 at its upper end. Between the piston 13 and the outer shell 28is a slidable sleeve '30 and a flexible rubber sleeve 31 which unrollsor unfolds upon itself as the piston rolls outwardly when thehydrostatic pressure thereon decreases.

In operation the mine is so adjusted that when the piston is in themiddle of its stroke the displaced water of the entire mine is equal tothe weight of the mine consequently in planting if the piston is all theway in, the mine will be heavier than the displaced water and will beginto sink. It should now be explained that the tripping or escapementlever carrying the lugs 21 and 22 against which the locking lever 23rests Feb. 24, 1925. 1 1,527,775

w. H. BEVANS ET AL TORPEDO Filed April 24, 1919 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb.24, 1925. 1,527,775

W. H. BEVANS ET AL TORPBDD Filed April 24, 1919 2 Sh08t8$1 \6t 2 E iaIlllll I'lllll Ill Patented Feb. 24, 1925..

cart a stares;

1.52am retreat caries.

VVILLIAJK H. BEVANS AND JAMES S. CURR-IER, OF NEWPGRT, RHODE ISLAND, AS-

SIG-NORS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITE-D STATES.

TORIPEDO.

Application filed April 24, 1919.

larly toward the provision of means for causing a torpedo, after havingtraversed a predetermined distance, to depart from its course andthereafter continue its run in a circular path.

lVith recent improvements in torpedo construction it is quite generallythe case that the range at which the torpedo is fired is considerablyless than that which the torpedo is capable of traversing. It thereforefollows that, particularly in night attacks by destroyers or submarineson enemy vessels, where a short range of fire is commonly used, it isextremely desirable that means he provided for causing the torpedo torun in a circular path after it has passed the target, to therebyincrease the possibility of obtaining a hit on the target or vesselsaccompanying it. Thus, by providing the torpedo with such means, onpassing the target and failing to make a hit the torpedo would thencommence a circular course, enabling it to recross the path of thetarget several times.

In the drawings, which form a part of this disclosure, we have shown twoforms of construction for accomplishing the purposes of this invention,both of which devices eihciently accomplish the purposes desired, arereadily applied to the present service torpedoes without materialchanges in construction and ofier as well the advantage of being compactand relatively inexpen sive to manufacture. In these devices simplemeans are provided for afi'ecting the nor- Serial N 292,51 1.

have shown byway of illustration only several of the possibleembodiments of this invention, like characters of reference designatelike parts, and

Figure 1 is a sideview of the afterbody of the torpedo with certainparts broken away and certain features of construction omitted for thesake of clearness;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the timing gear train and the mechanismcontrolled thereby;

Figure 3 is a View taken substantially along the line of Figure 1,showing the means for overcoming the action of the normal steeringmechanism;

Figure 4 is a detailed view of the connecting link shown in Figure 1,while Figure 5 is a view taken along line 55 of Figure 3 and showing thesetting spindle; Y

Figure 6 is a view in side elevation of the afterbody of a torpedo withcertain parts broken away, showing a modificaton of our invention;

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view showing the gearing used to actuate thetiming rack;

Figure 8 is a' view of the timing rack taken along the line 88 in Figure11 and looking in the direction of the arrows;'

Figure 9 is a view of the spring actuated stop shown in Figure 6;

Figure 10 is a top plan view of the'stop locking link taken along line10-10 of Figure 6;

Figure 11 is a large view of the timing rack mechanism; and

Figure 12 is a View of the setting spindle with the covering plugremoved.

Referring now to Figure 1, A denotes generally the afterbody of thetorpedo, pro vided with the usual vertically disposed steering ruddersB,- which are normally controlled from the gyro, mechanism C. The outerof two concentric shafts D, for driving the propellers, is provided witha gear 6 meshing with a pinion 7 for driving a shaft 8, from which shaftpower is taken off to accomplish the purposes of this invention.

The shaft 8 is provided with a Worm 10 which drives a Worm gear 11attached to the lower part of a stub shaft 11, the upper end of whichcarries a worm 12 meshing with a worm wheel 13, which in turn drives aworm 14C to operate a worm wheel 15 on the periphery of a sleeve 16,rotatably sup ported in a bushing 17 securedto. some stationary part ofthe torpedo and provided with internal gear teeth 18.' This sleeve 16surrounds the upper end of a spindle 20 and the internal gear teeth 18of said sleeve mesh with and operate a pinion 21 attached to the upperend of spindle 20. The gearing thus far described constitutes a timingmechanism for determining the point of operation of our device. Theinternal gear teeth 18 on the sleeve, 16 are of greater width than thepinion 21 so as to provide for a longitudinal sliding movement of thespindle 20. m

Referring now particularly to Figure 1, in a diagrammatic manner thereis shown the usual gyro mechanism 0, including a pallet and pawlmechanism which controls the Valve E of the engine F to normally effectthe steering of the torpedo in a horizontal plane. This general type ofmechanism is old and well known and is described in'prior patents, as,for. example, see United States patents to Leavitt, Nos. 7 95,046,patentedJuly 18, 1905, and 1,080,116, patented December2, 1918, so neednot be described in detail, but it will suffice to say that in thenormal steering action of the torpedo,

by means of some suitable control'mechanism, such, for example, asdescribed in the above mentioned patents, the rod 22 1s moved onedirection-or the other to conkmatically reciprocated back and forth, to

trol through a system of levers, the valve E of the engine F. As isshown in the drawings, rod 22 operates bell crank lever 23, which itselfoperates rod 24. A' cooperating link is ordinarily associated with rod24 and link 25, which latter is secured to the valve E of the horizontalsteering engine, by which means said valve E is automove the verticallydisposed steering rud 'ders first to'one side and then the other of themedian position, as may benecessary to maintain the torpedo in a coursebearing a constant relation to the plane ofrotation of the rotor of thegyroscope.

However, instead of the plain link which is commonly used to connect thelink 25 with the rod 24 and which has a fixed pivoted connection to eachof said members, we have provided a bent lever 26 (see Figure 2) pivotedat one end in the link 25 and provided in its under side with circularseat 27 adapted to substantially brace a headed pin 28 secured to thelower end of the rod 24, so that in this position of the lever 26 thenormal steering mechanism of the torpedo "will be effective toaccomplish its purpose. This lever 26 extends beyond the pin 27 where itis bent at right angles and is provided with a forked end'30, supportedby a collar 31 on spindle 2t).

The spindle 20 projects at its lower end through a sleeve 32 which isthreaded on an inwardly projecting hollow circular boss 33 secured tothe base of the gyro pot. A threaded cap 34 covers the setting spindle20 and renders it water tight, at the same time providing removablemeans for getting at the spindle to enable the setting of the timingmechanism. 1

A spring 35 seats at its lower end on the sleeve 32 and engages at itsupper end a collar 36 secured to the spindle 20. This spring normallytends to hold the pinion 21 in mesh with the internal gear 18 on thesleeve 16, but when the device is to be placed inainoperative position,the spindle 20 is withdrawn against the action of the spring 35,removing the index pin 37, from contact witlrtheindex plate 38,seatedwithin the sleeve 32, and. stop 40 is drawn through, the

opening 41 in the plate 38. By this means the gear 21 has beendisengaged from the internal gear18 on the sleeve 16 and a slightrotation of the spindle 20 will permit the stop 40 to'seat on the plate38, holding the device in inoperative position. The index plate 38 isprovided with suitable graduations 42 to facilitate the setting of thedevice.

In operation, the spindle 20 is first, turned and stop 40 passed throughopening 41. The pinion 21 is still held out of mesh with the internalgear 18 and by means of the in dex pin 37 and the index scale 42 on theplate 38, the spindle 20 is given an appropriate turning movement untilthe desiredv relation between the index pin 37 and the zero, point or.opening 41 in the index plate 38,: is established; The spindle is thenreleased and spring 35 throwsthe pinion 21in mesh, with internal gear 18on the sleeve 16 and bymeans of thegearing, previously described, whichtakes off power from the propeller shaft D, movement of the propellershaft is transmitted on a greatly reduced scalev onto the sleeve 16. Thereduction efiected is according to a known ratio and is so calculatedthat with the setting above described by the time the torpedo shall havetraversed. a definite distance, estimated for a slight distance beyondthe target, it a hit is note'ffected, the movement of the sleeve 16through the reduction gearing, in turn moving the gear 21, has justrotated the spindle 20 into a position wherethe index pin 37 is lined upwith the opening 41 in the plate At this instant the spring 35 actitsposition at one end or the other of the cylinder or will complete itstravel to either end and then remain there, so that by means of the rod43 operated from the engine F and connected to the rudders B, therudders are either held in a hardover position or else moved thereto. Asno further motion can now be transmitted to the steering en gine valveE, the rudders are retained in their hard over position by the air inthe cylinder and the torpedo will continue to circle for the remainderof its run.

Referring now to the modification of our invention as shown in Figures 6to 10 inclusive, as before the device is disposed in the atterbody A ofthe torpedo and acts on the vertically disposed steering rudders Bthereof. In this case, however, the main control mechanism is mountedjust aft of the oil pot G in the afterbody and immediately above thedistance gear H. Power is taken off the gear 50 attached to the shaft D,which is the outer of the two concentric shafts driving the torpedopropellers, by means of a pinion 51, attached to shaft 52, which is usedto operate the distance mechanism indicated at H. This distancemechanism is a standard part of most torpedoes, and has amongst itsfunctions the cutting ofi' of the power to the engines of the torpedoafter the same has traversed a predetermined distance. F or the purposesof this invention, as shown. diagrammatically in Figure 7, a worm 53 onthe shaft 52 is used to drive a worm gear 54 on the spindle 55, theupper end of which carries a worm 56 driving a worm gear 57 on thespindle 58, which in turn, by means of the worm 60, drives a worm gear61 on the distance gear spindle 62. Teeth 63 are cut on the upper partof this distance gear spindle 62 and in operation mesh with the teeth onthe rack 64, so that by means of the gearing heretoforedescribed, thedistance gear spindle 62 is driven at a ver Y much reduced speed toslowly move the rack 64 in the desired direction.

The rack is held and guided by the two headed guide pins 65 and 66, thelatter of which is an eccentric and capable of rotation. Thus, by aturning movement of the guide pin 66, the rack may be. thrown out ofmesh with the teeth 63 and the device rendered inoperative. A secondspindle 67, having a head 68, is provided with teeth which are always inmesh with the rack,

which is indexed to read in yards, as at 70.

and cooperating with suitable reference line 71 on the boss 72, whichsurrounds the spindle 67 and protects it, provides means for setting thedevice to operate at any required distance. A cap 73 has threadedengagement with the boss 72 and provides a covering for the settingpinion 67 when the same is not in use.

Disposed within the path of travel of the rack 64 is the upper arm 74 ofthe bell crank lever 75, to the other arm of which is secured a rod orwire 76, so that when the rack has been brought to a point in its travelwhere it engages the arm 74 and thus operates the bell crank lever 75,by means of the wire 76 a suitable means hereinafter described isbrought into operation to accomplish the purposes of this invention.

As in the modification previously described, the operation of thesteering engine F is controlled by a valve E, which in its turn iscontrolled by means of the pallet and pawl device, cooperating with thegyroscope mechanism. By this means, should the torpedo deviate, as itconstantly does, from a course bearing the prescribe-d relation to theplane of rotation of the rotor of the gyroscope, this mechanism will beeffective to actuate the valve E and operate the engine F to displacethe rudders B from its previous position, bringing the torpedo back onits course.

The actual movement of the rudders is effected through the agency of arod 77 attached to the piston of the engine by means of the usual rudderrod connection 78. On the top of the gyro steering engine are twoslotted lugs 80 and 81, within the slotted portions of which is carriedthe locking link 82 pivoted at one end in the lug 80. Normally this link82 fits within the slot 83 of the slotted lug 84, projecting from the uper part of a rotatable stop 85 supported y a rat torsion spring 86,which is secured at one end as at 87 in a suitable manner, as by afriction fit, in the slot in the lug 80. This stop 85 includes an arm 88having at its lower end a head member 90.

The operation of the device is briefly as follows: The eccentric pin 66is adapted to hold the rack 64 out of engagement with the teeth 68 andwhen it is desired to use the torpedo, the block 73 is unscrewed and bymeans of the setting pinion 67 the rack 64 is adjusted in position sothat it will bring the device into operation after the torpedo hastraversed the selected distance. The eccentric guide pin 66 is thenturned to carry the rack into engagement with the teeth 63 and thedevice is ready for operation. a

When the torpedo is fired the gear 50 mounted on the propeller shatt Ddrives the pinion 51 and by means of the gearing previously describedand diagrammatically disclosed in Figure 7, the distance gear spindle 62is rotated at a very reduced rate of speed. In accordance with theprevious calculations, the rack 64 has been so set that it will strikeand actuate the bell crank lever 75 when the torpedo has gone therequired distance. When this happens, the rod or wire 76 which isattached at one end to the

